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Poster: user unknown Date: Apr 22, 2014 1:29pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: An Old Question: When Did You Know?

As a rather niave boy from an overgrown Southern mill village, I had heard about the Grateful Dead, but knew very little except they were a California band. Through Columbia House Record Club, I had found Moby Grape and was hooked. Word on the street was that Grateful Dead was even better. Thumbing through the cut-out bin, at the local Sears, Robuck & Co., I found the first Grateful Dead album. I almost didn't buy it because it was the monoaural version. But for $0.99, I figured I couldn't go but so wrong. That was sometime either in late 1967, or early in1968...my memory just ain't what it used to be. I wore thay album out, and it was but the first of many subsequent Grateful Dead vinyl purchases. Though I still think Moby Grape was the better of the two bands, Grateful Dead outlasted them and has been in sometimes constant, and sometimes on again off again, rotation in my music library ever since. Marriage and children convinced me that I would never see a live Grateful Dead show, but that didn't dim my enjoyment of their recorded music. After Jerry died, when the survivors were touring as The Other Ones, I was finally able to catch a live show. Jimmy Herring isn't Jerry, but he's the best lead guitarist they've had since Jerry's death. And Rob Barraco is a pretty good stand-in for Pig. Robert Hunter played a set between the two The Other Ones sets, and you could feel Jerry's presence during the whole show. The years I waited, the circumstances of the tour(the "core four" together)and the fact that I was able to be at that show with my son made it a once in a lifetime experience that reaffirmed, and strengthened my "on the bus" status. I know purists will say I'm not a true Deadhead, and that I long ago gave up my place on the bus. I've heard it all before, and it no longer phases me. If you love the Grateful Dead more than I do, or if you can recite concert stats "chapter and verse" better than can(and I'm not really good at that 'cause like I said my memory just ain't what it used to be)...then God bless you my brother, or sister. I'm just here for the music.
This post was modified by user unknown on 2014-04-22 20:29:28